1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method capable of generating a stereoscopic image, which is stereoscopically displayed on the display section for stereoscopic display, by performing 3D processing for stereoscopic display on plural images which are viewed from different observation points. In addition, the invention also relates to a program for causing a computer to execute the image processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there have been known methods capable of realizing stereoscopic visualization by using parallax. In such methods, plural images, which are acquired by photographing a same object from different positions, are combined, such that a stereoscopic image is generated, thereby stereoscopically displaying the generated stereoscopic image. As a specific method for the stereoscopic display, a naked-eye parallel viewing method that performs the stereoscopic display by arranging plural images is known. Further, it is also possible to perform the stereoscopic display by using a stereoscopic image which is generated in a way of synthesizing plural images by setting colors of plural images as different colors such as red and blue and superimposing them or by making the polarization directions of plural images different and superimposing them. In this case, by viewing the combined stereoscopic image, which is stereoscopically displayed, with image separation glasses such as red/cyan glasses or polarization glasses, it is possible to perform stereoscopic viewing (the anaglyph system, and the polarization filter system).
Further, even when polarization glasses or the like are not used, like in the parallax barrier system and the lenticular system, it is possible to perform stereoscopic viewing by displaying plural images on a stereoscopic display monitor capable of stereoscopic viewing. In this case, the plural images are cut out in a striped shape in the vertical direction and arranged in a staggered manner, such that the stereoscopic image is generated, thereby performing the stereoscopic display. Further, a system has been also proposed that performs the stereoscopic display on the basis of the afterimage effect in a way of alternately displaying left and right images at a high speed while changing the ray propagation direction of the left and right images by using the image separation glasses or attaching an optical element to a liquid crystal display (scan backlight system).
As described above, in the case of the stereoscopic viewing, it is necessary to appropriately adjust the stereoscopic effect. Hence, there has been proposed a method of generating a stereoscopic image in accordance with a parallax amount which is adjusted in response to a instruction to adjust the parallax amount of the stereoscopic image stereoscopically displayed (refer to JP2004-129186A and JP2009-129420A). Further, a method has been also proposed of generating a stereoscopic image by adjusting the stereoscopic effect while viewing the displayed stereoscopic image (refer to JP1998-90814A (JP H10-90814A)). Furthermore, there has been also proposed a method of adjusting the stereoscopic effect for games (refer to JP 1997-192349A (JP H9-192349A)).